KRAYBILL

How the Amish are represented or portrayed is a passion of mine, especially if I think the effect of the portrayal is harmful. One of the ways in which a portrayal can be harmful, is when it appears to be a neutral perspective, when in fact it's biased and its actual function is that of advocacy. Donald Kraybills' work on the Amish is particularly egregious.

Here's Kraybill in "The Riddle Of Amish Culture"

As a symbol of Amish culture, the horse articulates the
meaning of several key values: tradition, time, limits, nature, and sacrifice.
As a sacred link with history, the horse provides hard evidence that the Amish
have not completely succumbed to progress. It heralds the triumph of tradition
and signals faithful continuity with the past. A counter-symbol to the
worldliness embodied in cars, the horse is tangible proof that the Amish have
not sold out to the glamour and glitter of a high-tech society. A striking
symbol of nonconformity, the horse separates the Amish from the modern world and
anchors them in the past. Over the years, the church has forbidden fancy
harnesses and decorative tack in hopes of keeping the horse undefiled. To be
content with horse-drawn travel is a sign of commitment to tradition, faith, and
the church. In this way, the horse becomes a sacred symbol.

And a page later.

As a front-stage symbol, the horse projects a
conservative public image that conveniently camouflages a multitude of
differences in income, lifestyles, and hobbies on the backstage of Amish life.
The Amish businessman who travels in a hired truck all week supervising a
multimillion-dollar business bends to tradition by driving his horse to Sunday
services. Progressive Amish who read Newsweek, limit the size of their families,
and landscape their homes can nod with affinity to their more conservative
neighbors as their horses pass each other on country roads. The horse offers
compelling proof that the Amish are still Amish while permitting a host of
changes in other areas of Amish life.

end quote

As you can see Kraybill is effusive over the horses' place in Amish life. Being an outsider to Amish culture, and a social scientist, Kraybill should be able to see the decision by Amish leaders, to use horses, as having consequences other than perfect bliss. I think Kraybill has become a propagandist for the Amish church leadership. His reward is continued access, which in turn has made him the ultimate authority on the Amish. Go figure.


REALITY
Adhering to their horse and buggy ways has exacerbated the issue of class and economic inequality exponentially for the Amish. Consider the Amish Business man Kraybill refers to. While he's commuting around looking at jobs, he'll execute a host of none business related tasks like, picking up groceries (for the un-expected dinner guests), prescriptions at the pharmacy, Pedia-lite and Tylenol for the baby with a fever, dropping off one or two of the adolescent kids at the dentists office. The list goes on and on. Now let's compare that to one of his Amish workers who is picked up at 5:45 am. and returned home at 6:15 pm. (that's on a good day, sometimes it's later) Since he's traveling with a group of other workers, and he's not the boss, his autonomy to make those extracurricular stops, is very limited.
So, let's drop in at the home of our hypothetical Amish worker, and see what a typical day might be like for his wife. They have three children and another one on the way. The baby and mother are sick with the common cold. She is scheduled for a prenatal care doctors visit today,
which she has been dreading for days, not because of the visit itself, but because her means of transportation is their newly acquired horse. She acquiesced when her husband wanted to get a younger, more spirited one, after their last one became to old. While growing up her older brothers always drove, so now her skill level and confidence are woefully inadequate.


I guess Kraybill didn't interview her for the book, but you can bet the adjectives Kraybill uses aren't the ones she would choose.

But, let's take this a couple steps further. What if our hypothetical husband loses his job? Or wants to change jobs for one with less demanding hours. The limitations placed on him because of his dependence on a horse for transportation will not bring Kraybills' adjectives to mind either.